Orange says iPhone talks underway but no deal signed - report

Retuers reports that a leading executive at France Telecom has told members of the media that several wireless operators are in talks with Apple Inc. over marketing Apple's iPhone in Europe, but added no deal has been signed.

"There are several of us in talks with Apple to market the iPhone," Louis-Pierre Wenes, a senior executive at France Telecom, told Paris Match magazine in an article published on Thursday.

Earlier this week, Financial Times Deutschland reported that Deutsche Telekom AG's mobile phone unit, T-Mobile, had agreed to an iPhone deal in which it would share with Apple 10 percent of the revenue it makes from calls and data transfers by customers over iPhones.

The earlier report added that France Telecom's Orange unit and the O2 unit of Spain's Telefonica had also agreed to the same terms for deals in their countries.

Asked whether he could confirm that Orange had got a deal with iPhone, Wenes replied: "No. Several operators are still in talks with Apple. I think it will be several weeks before we have an announcement. A deal in September, as has been reported, seems impossible to me, if only for technical reasons."

"Once the phone is activated, it allows you to access the operator's network and that takes several months to get up and running," he added. "The marketing ought to take place in the fourth quarter of 2007, as indicated previously by Apple."

Retuers reports that a leading executive at France Telecom has told members of the media that several wireless operators are in talks with Apple Inc. over marketing Apple's iPhone in Europe, but added no deal has been signed.

France Telecom is abiding by the European Community Antitrust law. Good for them. French consumers will be protected from Steve Jobs' irrational greed.

If France Telecom were to sign any deal with Apple, giving France Telecom's mobile division a monopoly over the distribution of the iPhone, in return for a 10% royalty fee to be paid monthly to Apple, such a distribution contract would be attacked before the Courts and antitrust authorities would decree sanctions against France Telecom.

Definitely not a deal to be signed by a rational company aiming to serve its customers in the best way possible.

France Telecom is abiding by the European Community Antitrust law. Good for them. French consumers will be protected from Steve Jobs' irrational greed.

If France Telecom were to sign any deal with Apple, giving France Telecom's mobile division a monopoly over the distribution of the iPhone, in return for a 10% royalty fee to be paid monthly to Apple, such a distribution contract would be attacked before the Courts and antitrust authorities would decree sanctions against France Telecom.

Definitely not a deal to be signed by a rational company aiming to serve its customers in the best way possible.

For what it is worth - my partner who is Europe working on a movie had their set come to a screeching halt Friday morning in order to rework an Orange placement into the movie for a character using an iPhone -- this is a Universal picture, so it points to enough certainty that a major motion picture placement has been made already. Points to a contract with France-T Orange for sure.

For what it is worth - my partner who is Europe working on a movie had their set come to a screeching halt Friday morning in order to rework an Orange placement into the movie for a character using an iPhone -- this is a Universal picture, so it points to enough certainty that a major motion picture placement has been made already. Points to a contract with France-T Orange for sure.

Problem is there are plenty of countries with an Orange phone network so it would not really confirm anything. It was widely reported last week that Apple had agreed terms with 02 in the UK, T-Mobile in Germany and Orange in France. But that never made any sense at all as both T-Mobile and Orange have networks in the UK. It would make far more sense for one of the major networks to sign up the iPhone in all countries in operates in, anything else just smacks of lunacy. But saying that the iPhone is probably one of the most unatractive packages that has been offered to a network that maybe Apple are just glad to get anyone signed up.